Visit to Bending Wave USA--Gobel and CH Precision---state of the art

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,467
11,363
4,410
i have had a man crush on CH Precision gear for awhile, and also paid close attention to all the very positive feedback from fellow MSB Select II owner WBF member Priaptor (Howie) about his experience with his new Gobel speakers and CH Precision M1 amps. then at RMAF i visited the Bending Wave USA room and spoke to Elliot Goldman about visiting his new showroom near Miami as i had a business trip scheduled for this past week to Palm Beach. he was nice enough to allow me to visit.

so this past Tuesday afternoon after my meetings ended, i slogged an hour south from Palm Beach down the freeway to Elliot's place. the showroom is in an office park, but he has built a dedicated room inside this warehouse space and it is very impressive. along with his 2 channel room there is also a dedicated Home Theater room.

i was busy with my business meetings agin Tuesday night, Wednesday i had meetings then traveled all day back across the country back home to the Seattle area. then yesterday was busy, busy catching up. this morning i finally had a few moments to get this started.

this system is basically the same gear that was at the RMAF but without the analog gear. as i'm running out of time this morning i'm going to cut this short for now. i'll just say that i loved what i heard in Elliot's new room and it was miles better than the hinted magic at RMAF. Elliot was a perfect host and i enjoyed every minute of my brief visit. like most all audio traveling visits, i heard new music i'm now trying to access and investigate.

bravo Elliot for the space you have created and all the amazing gear i heard.

spectacular sounding and i highly recommend a visit if you can do it!


Bend Wave 1.jpg Bend Wave 2.jpg
 

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
Thank you Mike and it was a fun visit. I sent you a list of some of the music I played, Enjoy.
I hope someday to hear your system if I am out that way. If your in the neighborhood you are always welcome. The analog part is next on my list but I do need to pay for it so its on the list for next year.
I appreciate the kind words and I will probably see you at either Axpona 2019 or RMAF 2019.
Warm regards,
Elliot
 

lordcloud

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
218
101
175
47
Round Rock, Texas
Thank you Mike and it was a fun visit. I sent you a list of some of the music I played, Enjoy.
I hope someday to hear your system if I am out that way. If your in the neighborhood you are always welcome. The analog part is next on my list but I do need to pay for it so its on the list for next year.
I appreciate the kind words and I will probably see you at either Axpona 2019 or RMAF 2019.
Warm regards,
Elliot

I would love a list of the music you played as well. Not to compare to anything obviously, but I am always looking for new, interesting music. And I like knowing what other audiophiles think is good enough to play when wanting to impress.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CKKeung

lordcloud

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
218
101
175
47
Round Rock, Texas
Thank you Mike and it was a fun visit. I sent you a list of some of the music I played, Enjoy.
I hope someday to hear your system if I am out that way. If your in the neighborhood you are always welcome. The analog part is next on my list but I do need to pay for it so its on the list for next year.
I appreciate the kind words and I will probably see you at either Axpona 2019 or RMAF 2019.
Warm regards,
Elliot

And that is a beautiful room. More pictures would also be nice. :)
 

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
I would love a list of the music you played as well. Not to compare to anything obviously, but I am always looking for new, interesting music. And I like knowing what other audiophiles think is good enough to play when wanting to impress.
send me your email and I ll send you a playlist I have with lots of goodies
 
  • Like
Reactions: christoph

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com

christoph

Well-Known Member
Dec 11, 2015
4,659
4,058
825
Principality of Liechtenstein
send me your email and I ll send you a playlist I have with lots of goodies
After I really love your recommended Anders Osborne album Coming Down, I'm very curious about your playlist as well :cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Elliot G.

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
After I really love your recommended Anders Osborne album Coming Down, I'm very curious about your playlist as well :cool:
send me an email and I will happily send it along next week when i am in the office
 
  • Like
Reactions: christoph

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
The Ed Sheeran X Wembley edition is truly a huge surprise to me. Not at all what i expected
 

christoph

Well-Known Member
Dec 11, 2015
4,659
4,058
825
Principality of Liechtenstein
send me an email and I will happily send it along next week when i am in the office
I sent you my email address in a conversation here on the forum.
Thank you in advance :cool:
 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
2,503
1,943
343
Dear Elliot,I cannot listen your file because i haven't DAC,so to me you can send some Vinyl instead file
 

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
Dear Elliot,I cannot listen your file because i haven't DAC,so to me you can send some Vinyl instead file
Gianni,
My music collection is on a hard drive and its about 8 TB. I don't at present use a turntable and I do plan on getting one and a P1 for my system in 2019 however I never will again build a record collection. I gave away my 6000 lps many years ago and although I like vinyl at this time of my life I don't wish to go through the religious like pre play again. Good bye stylus cleaning, record cleaning etc.
I will say that I would suspect that most of these recordings should sound good on LP if they are available.
Please write to me and I will gladly forward a copy an you can see what they have available on record.
Warm regards,'
Elliot
 

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
I sent you my email address in a conversation here on the forum.
Thank you in advance :cool:
got it will do it Monday as I an not in the office
 
  • Like
Reactions: christoph

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
2,503
1,943
343
Dear Elliot,i was jocking,
i have Wadia S7I and i can use it only dac
 

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
You really should get a chance to listen to what I have. I know you love CH and the set up is really remarkable. C1.1 mono, T1, 3 X-1.
Come to Florida :)
Happy Holidays
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,467
11,363
4,410
Thank you Mike and it was a fun visit. I sent you a list of some of the music I played, Enjoy.
I hope someday to hear your system if I am out that way. If your in the neighborhood you are always welcome. The analog part is next on my list but I do need to pay for it so its on the list for next year.
I appreciate the kind words and I will probably see you at either Axpona 2019 or RMAF 2019.
Warm regards,
Elliot

thanks Elliot.

at RMAF i was particularly interested in hearing the CH Precision 'mono-dac', which starts as a 3 box dac....one box for the digital circuits, and one box each for the left and right analog circuits. then you can add a T1 clock generator and up to one extra power supply for each of those 4 boxes. up to a mind boggling 8 boxes for digital, and that is still short a transport and power supply for that. it looked like you had 7 boxes, with power supplies for the dac, and analog boxes. we are somewhere north of 6 figures list price for this digital (no preamp). is that right?

then we have the 3 box CH L1 mono-preamp, and the M1 amplifier, and the very impressive Gobel speakers. those speakers have a sound that is ultra coherent and of a piece in the best sense. that high frequency driver is super fast, yet it's not prominent. it never assaults you. i love those speakers.

it's so hard to determine in a short time in a strange system what is doing what. the room, treatments, speakers, cables, power grid, preamp and source are all variables, as well as the musical choices. then we have my traveling, and hour long freeway drive then start listening within 10 minutes of arrival.

all that said, the sound was amazing; much more impressive than RMAF. the system had tons of headroom, a super low noise floor, and uber detail. i heard way into the music. Elliot is a big piano and guitar fan and much of the music had one or the other. super quick and micro-dynamic. when the bass energy was present i could feel it physically. i did love the music that Elliot played, and it certainly showcased the speed and detail of the system.

the guitar pluck and piano hammer strike's were as clear and open as i have heard, lot's of decay and sense of weight, images floated and popped out appropriately. very holographic and involving. Elliot mentioned that older CD's were especially transformed by the CH digital and i'd have to agree (i enjoy that part of my MSB too).

it was a wow!!! session.

did it dig as deep as my system? did it have that level of authority?

so hard to say with different rooms, and my listening position is more near field. my room is very mature, 14 years verses 2 months of tweaking. i have the Tripoint and Entreq grounding. i have multiples greater driver surface with multiples more power and a much easier to drive speaker.

so the systems are very different.

but i would say that the ultimate CH Precision-Gobel musical viewpoint and the ultimate MSB Select II--darTZeel---Evolution Acoustics musical viewpoint have different presentations and a different feel.

i am very glad that Elliot allowed me the opportunity to hear his wonderful room.
 

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
Just for accuracy what I have in my system is a L1 mono with two x-1 power supplies ( preamp)
C1.1 Mono Dac which is three pieces, 3 X-1 power supplies and a T-1 clock. I dont believe you can add a power supply to the clock :)
I know there is a lot of talk about MSB and dCS on these threads but the C1.1 Mono is amazing and for my money is also right at the top of what digital is capable of. I am glad that digital has advanced to the state it is since I really enjoy the ease of finding and playing my music almost as much as I enjoy being blown away by the sound.
 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
2,503
1,943
343
Have you tried L1 stereo with X1 VS L1 mono with 2 X1?
There is big difference?

This is my future project
Thanks
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing